Coventry Blaze celebrate winning the 2009/10 Elite League.

By Paul Wheeler BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Blast reporter

Belfast Giants Braehead Clan Cardiff Devils Coventry Blaze Dundee Stars

Edinburgh Capitals Hull Stingrays Newcastle Vipers Nottingham Panthers Sheffield Steelers

Coach: Doug Christiansen

09/10 Season: Second behind Coventry in the league, but won both the Knockout Cup competition and were play-off champions.

Strengths: Depth. New coach Christiansen has put together a roster which, on paper, is the strongest in the league, with pedigree at every position and a great balance of goals and resilient defence.

Weaknesses: With many are already tipping the Giants for the title, will the weight of expectation only lead to disappointment at the Odyssey?

Key man: Forward Colin Hemingway - the ex-Edinburgh Capital man returns to the UK, and Belfast fans will be hoping he shows the same form he did with the Scots.

Coach: Bruce Richardson

09/10 Season: The Clan are playing their inaugural season this year.

Strengths: The Clan are a brand new team and Richardson has put together a strong roster, with names like ex-DEL player Jon Landry and Bobby Chaumont.

Weaknesses: The pressure will be on the Clan to win early and win often in order to keep the crowds coming back.

Key man: French-Canadian netminder JF Perras was stellar for Edinburgh but average for Coventry in his last league stint - he will need to be on form this year to ensure his team-mates can play with confidence.

Coach: Gerard Adams

09/10 Season: Fourth

Strengths: The Devils are a team built to win in any way possible-they have the skill to out-play teams but will just as willingly go through the opposition players as around them.

Weaknesses: Discipline. With players like Brad Voth and Justin Sawyer on the squad, the Devils will need to walk the fine line between "intimidating" and "illegal" play.

Key man: Experienced American forward Scott Matzka spent last year in Sweden and Finland, and has the skills to open up opposition defences.

Coach: Paul Thompson

09/10 Season: League champions.

Strengths: Like Belfast, the Blaze are a team with skill and depth at every position. Sharpshooter Luke Fulghum and new signing Owen Fussey lead the attack, while Jon Weaver and Brian Lee head a strong defensive corps.

Weaknesses: The Blaze crowd will expect big things from this team in their defence of the league title.

Key man: Almost all of the good things the Blaze do seem to go through their British star Jon Weaver, who is captain this season. He will need to lead from the front to ensure his team mount a strong defence of their title.

Coach: Dan Ceman

09/10 Season: The Stars are the second new team in Scotland for this season.

Strengths: Power. Ceman is building a big, intimidating roster, particularly on the blue-line. Steve Makway is 6ft 5in, Jason Tessier is 6ft 1in and up front there is the hulking 6ft 4in Sean McMorrow to ensure that this is not a team who can be easily bullied.

Weaknesses: Aside from Peter Cartwright, the Stars look like a team that perhaps lack a little offensive flair.

Key man: The big Canadian Steve Makway can contribute at both ends of the ice, and he will have to do so regularly to ensure that the Stars get the chance to shine in their debut season.

Coach: Brad Gratton

09/10 Season: Sixth, lost in the play-off semi-final.

Strengths: Pride. The Capitals are a team who sign players who play exclusively for the badge on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back. This season appears to be no exception.

Weaknesses: The unknown. The team's recruiting process is traditionally slow, and with key British player Mark Garside poached by Belfast, the Caps faithful will be relying on Gratton to find a rough diamond or two as he continues to build the roster on a tight budget.

Key man: Slovakian forward Martin Cingel has been in the Scottish capital for so long, he is considered an "honorary Scot" by Caps fans. As captain, he will be looked upon to lead by example again this season.

Player-coach: Sylvain Cloutier

09/10 Season: Eighth

Strengths: Work ethic and optimism. The Stingrays looked dead and buried this summer and announced they were winding up operations. But with the Coventry Blaze management team dramatically stepping in to save them, most of the players are staying loyal to player-coach Cloutier.

Weaknesses: Time. Even though they have set a deadline of early October to be back in business, the club are going to have to start the season a month behind the rest of the league.

Key man: Forward Jason Silverthorn from Ontario is a proven scorer, netting an average of 20 goals a term in his four seasons with Edinburgh, Cardiff and Hull. He was also Hull's second top-scorer last season.

Player-coach: Danny Stewart

09/10 Season: Seventh

Strengths: Drive and passion. They are a young, hungry team full of players looking to prove themselves at a professional level.

Weaknesses: Inexperience. The Vipers will be relying on ex-college players Dan Speer and Dale Mahovsky and young Polish international Jaroslaw Rzeszutko to score the goals.

Key man: The young Pole Rzeszutko was a signing way out of left-field, but comes to the north east with impressive stats in the Polish League and could be one of the surprise star players this season.

Player-coach: Corey Neilson

2009/10 Season: Third, lost in the play-off semi-final.

Strengths: The Panthers have arguably the best forward group in the league, with names like David Beauregard, Billy Ryan and Jade Galbraith ensuring opposition goalies will have to be on their toes.

Weaknesses: With the likes of Jonathan Zion and Neilson himself on the blue-line, the attack-minded mentality of the defensive group could leave an alarming amount of space at the back.

Key man: Netminder Craig Kowalski. With his team-mates focusing more on troubling their opponent's defenders than protecting their own zone, the American will need to be prepared for more than a few one-on-one duels with opposition forwards.

Coach: Ben Simon

09/10 Season: Fifth

Strengths: Loyalty. Despite well-documented ownership problems this summer, the Steelers have still managed to build a strong-looking roster, and retained skill players like Joey Talbot and Ashley Tait despite the efforts of other clubs to tempt them away to more stable climes.

Weaknesses: Uncertainty in the boardroom. With the entire management structure of the club needing to be replaced quickly, how much of the players' (and coaches') minds will be focused on wondering just who their bosses are this week?

Key man: Latvian netminder Ervins Mustukovs is an unknown quantity in this league, with former coach Dave Matsos admitting that his signing was "a massive gamble" despite good statistics in the European leagues.

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